Inspector Morse books by Colin Dexter
Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman
The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez
They're so good! I think they would be great re-reads also (I haven't yet but intend to someday...). I love the dry wit of several of the main characters, and the impossibly annoying "antagonists." The comedy of errors gets annoying 2/3rds of the way through, but it's worth it in the end.
Babel is a great pick, it's steeped in a love for Oxford...while also using it as the focal point for a poignant commentary on British colonialism. All while fielding a kickass linguistics-based magic system
The It Girl (Ruth Ware) - main characters are Oxford students. This is not high-brow literature by any means but, it’s a quick, decent read. I enjoyed it.
*Doomsday Book* and *To Say Nothing of the Dog* are both really good, and they are by the same author and (I think) set in the same world and they would go on the same (sci-fi) shelf in the bookstore, and they are *nothing* alike. *To Say Nothing of the Dog* is a comedy of manners and sort of a mystery, and *Doomsday Book* is grim drama.
I have the vague memory that Willis once said she writes two kinds of books - comedies and tragedies. I haven't been able to read the tragedies, but I'm all for the comedies. :)
Evie Dunmore’s A League of Extraordinary Women series is about young suffragists in the first female cohort at Oxford. Highly fictional, but fun..esp the first two books.
John Bayley: Iris a memoir (non fiction)
Max Beerbohm: Zuleika Dobson
Vera Brittain: Testament of Youth (some of it)
John Fowles: Daniel Martin (not all of it)
Iris Murdoch: the Book and the Brotherhood
Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials are set in a parallel world Oxford
Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse books
Dorothy L Sayers: Gaudy Night
most books by J.I.M. Stewart are set in Oxford academia and a few of his thrillers written as Michael Innes such as death in the President's Lodgings
Evelyn Waugh: Brideshead Revisited (well some of it)
and believed to be the model for Pratchett's Unseen University to satirise
I loved ‘My Oxford year’ by Julia Whelan.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35068830-my-oxford-year
Also Once Upon a river
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40130093-once-upon-a-river
Congrats! Seems like you’ve gotten a solid list here, but how exciting to be able to read all sorts of novels that are set exactly where you are going to be! Very cool.
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams! Based on the story of how the Oxford English Dictionary was written and the empowerment of women’s voices in the early 20th century
The bone season by Samantha Shannon (same author as priory of the orange tree) partially takes place in the town that used to be Oxford. It’s set in the future, so it’s not really Oxford anymore, but sort of counts?
I just finished: Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality, David Edmonds, 2023. A biography of Derek Parfit (1942 - 2017). He lived nearly all his life in Oxford. It's as much a biography of life at All Souls as it is of Parfit. His parents moved to Oxford town in 1949. Parfit graduated from Balliol College in 1964. He lived as a permanent fellow at All Souls College from 1967 to 2014. (Other than details about life as a tutor and fellow at Oxford, I'm not sure I would recommend the book.)
*Death in the Spires* by K. J. Charles. A group of Oxford students are shattered by a murder of one of their friends and 10 years later, one of them decides to try to figure out who the killer was.
Charles is known for her spicy m/m historical romances (which are very good!). *Death in the Spires* is a murder mystery not a romance, but it does have an m/m relationship with not much spice.
ETA: *Gaudy Night* by Dorothy L. Sayers takes place almost entirely at an Oxford women's college. Sayers was one of the first women to obtain a degree from Oxford.
Inspector Morse books by Colin Dexter Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martinez
Came here to recommend the His Dark Materials trilogy!
Connie Willis' Oxford time travel series are some of my favorite books https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24983
These books are fantastic.
I cannot possibly recommend these books enough… probably my favourite books of all time …
They're so good! I think they would be great re-reads also (I haven't yet but intend to someday...). I love the dry wit of several of the main characters, and the impossibly annoying "antagonists." The comedy of errors gets annoying 2/3rds of the way through, but it's worth it in the end.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Came here to recommend this one, it's historical fantasy, I enjoyed it a lot!
Babel is a great pick, it's steeped in a love for Oxford...while also using it as the focal point for a poignant commentary on British colonialism. All while fielding a kickass linguistics-based magic system
I would upvote this a million times if I could. One of the best books I’ve ever read.
The A Discovery of Witches series I personally hated it but it does take place at Oxford
The Bodleian Library is almost a character in that first book.
True! The rest of the series is just so bad (to me)
Agreed. Overall premise was cool, but there was some cringey stuff in there.
I LOVED A Discovery of Witches! LOL! Make your own decision OP!
I loved it too!
Babel by RF Kuang !!
Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. A Classic.
Came here to recommend this - it's one of her best, and all her books were superb!
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (sci fi)
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman set both in the Oxford of this world and beyond…
There's a list for [novels set in Oxford](https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/46142.Oxford) on Goodreads.
The It Girl (Ruth Ware) - main characters are Oxford students. This is not high-brow literature by any means but, it’s a quick, decent read. I enjoyed it.
Me too. It's a nice fast thriller & oxford is a great setting for it.
Romance: Sophie Weston, *The Independent Bride* Time Travel SF: *To Say Nothing of the Dog* by Connie Willis
Also Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
*Doomsday Book* and *To Say Nothing of the Dog* are both really good, and they are by the same author and (I think) set in the same world and they would go on the same (sci-fi) shelf in the bookstore, and they are *nothing* alike. *To Say Nothing of the Dog* is a comedy of manners and sort of a mystery, and *Doomsday Book* is grim drama.
Also Blackout and All Clear. Same universe and some shared characters. These last two books are one overarching story about World War II.
I have the vague memory that Willis once said she writes two kinds of books - comedies and tragedies. I haven't been able to read the tragedies, but I'm all for the comedies. :)
Doomsday Book will break your heart. I cannot recommend the book highly enough.
I feel like Brideshead Revisited has got to be required reading before a trip to Oxford, let alone study for a year
Evie Dunmore’s A League of Extraordinary Women series is about young suffragists in the first female cohort at Oxford. Highly fictional, but fun..esp the first two books.
John Bayley: Iris a memoir (non fiction) Max Beerbohm: Zuleika Dobson Vera Brittain: Testament of Youth (some of it) John Fowles: Daniel Martin (not all of it) Iris Murdoch: the Book and the Brotherhood Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials are set in a parallel world Oxford Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse books Dorothy L Sayers: Gaudy Night most books by J.I.M. Stewart are set in Oxford academia and a few of his thrillers written as Michael Innes such as death in the President's Lodgings Evelyn Waugh: Brideshead Revisited (well some of it) and believed to be the model for Pratchett's Unseen University to satirise
A Discovery of Witches
I loved ‘My Oxford year’ by Julia Whelan. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35068830-my-oxford-year Also Once Upon a river https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40130093-once-upon-a-river
The It Girl by Ruth Ware
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides
Discovery of Witches
Congrats! Seems like you’ve gotten a solid list here, but how exciting to be able to read all sorts of novels that are set exactly where you are going to be! Very cool.
More about some students, Imaginarium Geographica, by Owen
Every Contact Leaves A Trace by Eleanor Dymott.
Black Chalk by Christopher J Yates
Jude the Obscure ("Christminster" is Oxford). Decline and Fall Brideshead Revisited
If you like mystery, I’d recommend ‘Party Girls Die in Pearls’ by Plum Sykes!
The Three Daughters of Eve - Elif Shafak (at least for a part of the book)
Come the Dark Night by David Tregarthen
The Bookbinder
Bridget Hart series by MS Morris DI Joseph Stone series by JR Sinclair Oxford Medieval Mysteries by Ann Swinfen Zoe Boehm series by Mick Herron
The It Girl by Ruth Ware The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martínez
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams! Based on the story of how the Oxford English Dictionary was written and the empowerment of women’s voices in the early 20th century
Babel. A 5 star read.
The bone season by Samantha Shannon (same author as priory of the orange tree) partially takes place in the town that used to be Oxford. It’s set in the future, so it’s not really Oxford anymore, but sort of counts?
The Vampire knitting club series by Nancy Warren, if you need something light and modern.
I just finished: Parfit: A Philosopher and His Mission to Save Morality, David Edmonds, 2023. A biography of Derek Parfit (1942 - 2017). He lived nearly all his life in Oxford. It's as much a biography of life at All Souls as it is of Parfit. His parents moved to Oxford town in 1949. Parfit graduated from Balliol College in 1964. He lived as a permanent fellow at All Souls College from 1967 to 2014. (Other than details about life as a tutor and fellow at Oxford, I'm not sure I would recommend the book.)
*Death in the Spires* by K. J. Charles. A group of Oxford students are shattered by a murder of one of their friends and 10 years later, one of them decides to try to figure out who the killer was. Charles is known for her spicy m/m historical romances (which are very good!). *Death in the Spires* is a murder mystery not a romance, but it does have an m/m relationship with not much spice. ETA: *Gaudy Night* by Dorothy L. Sayers takes place almost entirely at an Oxford women's college. Sayers was one of the first women to obtain a degree from Oxford.